Young Hunting Reveal New Single 'Crimes'; New Album True Believers out February 15 on Gold Robot Records

Los Angeles quintet Young Hunting have revealed their new single "Crimes" from their sophomore album True Believers out on February 15 via Gold Robot Records (pre-order). The track premiered at PopMatters and can also be shared at Soundcloud. About the song PopMatters says, "'Crimes' is the latest offering from Los Angeles-based dream pop outfit Young Hunting. The tune is an appropriate blend of the world-weary and the resolute. Filled with vocal harmonies that would not have been out of place on radio during the 1970s with musical settings that recall the warmth and glory of LPs by all those listed above, 'Crimes' is quietly and strangely anthemic (if you can imagine T.S. Eliot's famed antihero J. Alfred Prufrock crafting an anthem), a balm for the heartbroken and soul-searching."

"Crimes" is the second single from True Believers. Last month the band released "Every Living Thing" from the forthcoming release. The track premiered at The Big Takeover and can also be shared at Soundcloud.

About the song Young Hunting's Hari Rex says:

Each morning I look in the mirror and tell myself "you picked the wrong day to feel pain." Death is coming, he's bringing his friends. They're taking a Carnival cruise, harvesting the oceans of all life, then on to the flooding coasts. Their suitcases are packed with pestilence and genocide. No time for your own personal heartache, no time to be selfish, just let it eat away at you while you watch the latest viral video of children starving. Dislike. The weight is overwhelming, and the silence is staggering. I walk around in a stupor, helpless in this nightmare. I was recently diagnosed with crippling empathy, doctor said I need to mind my own business. What a wonderful world.

Young Hunting's sound is formed around gentle, lush dream pop interspersed with stark, desolate gothic folk. Primary songwriters Hari Rex and Ilya Mxx first met in 2007, quickly bonding over a shared appreciation for Nick Cave, Jason Molina, Can, and the classic California pop of the 60s and 70s.

The initial collaboration led to the "Into Yr Mind/Sonata" seven-inch record, distributed by K Records and released in 2010. Their debut album, Hazel (Gold Robot Records, 2013), was inspired mostly by failed affairs, a divorce, and life in the shadow of LA's show-business culture. Tracks for Hazel were recorded in various locations around Southern California, including a former ranger's station in the Angeles National Forest, Grandma's Dojo studio in LA's Koreatown, a rented one-bedroom desert house outside of Joshua Tree, and living rooms, garages, and guest houses across Echo Park. Augmented by members of Cheekface, My Hawaii & One Finger Riot, the band appeared at a handful of festivals and toured the West Coast in support of the album.

Over the last few years, members of the band toured with other artists including The Pharcyde and soul legend Syl Johnson. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Hari and Ilya wrote new songs, which were sporadically recorded with Patrick Taylor (bass) and Miles Senzaki (drums) and mixed at Grandma's Dojo in Koreatown. The result is True Believers, a psych-soul dream for the lovelorn. The record deals extensively with loss of future and loss of past, encountering the void on intimate terms - watching a familiar life evaporate from your hands, merging the self and the shadow-self.

Listen to the new single here:

Photo Credit: Zach Rockwood

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